Edelmann last publicly pitched medium-rise housing for this moribund expanse of parking lots, brand outlets and smaller stores in August 2017. The proposal received lukewarm reviews over its possible impacts on traffic and aesthetics. A potentially long permitting timeline was another turn-off, Edelmann said.

Coinciding with that gala is the opening, next to the T-Rex, of the Double E restaurant and bar by Waitsfield-based The Mad Taco — in a space that Edelmann said also lends itself to lower-key acoustic performances.

Edelmann is ill-inclined to wait. Until there’s more certainty in the rulebooks, he said, new residential units for his property will remain off the drawing board.

“I’d be foolish to say I’ve ruled it out if it became financially feasible,” he added. “But it could be three to four years before I could get started on that. I just don’t want to wait that long.”

Edelmann’s latest, scaled-down version of the Essex complex will still need a favorable review by the town’s citizen-run Planning Commission before it becomes shovel-ready.

“If we do it right, downtown Burlington will come here, and tourists will come,” he said. “It’ll create a lot of jobs, and that’s good, too.”

Contact Joel Banner Baird at 802-660-1843 or joelbaird@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @VTgoingUp.

The T-Rex theater at Essex Cinemas (at purple arrow) is planned to double as a performing arts venue, according to this site plan created for site owner Peter Edelmann in Feb. 2018.(Photo11: Courtesy Essex Shoppes)